Cirque de Nightmare
by fuchsia.stoplight
Summary: When an experiment gone wrong forces Mary Alice to leave behind everything she once loved, she finds refuge in an unexpected place. "Welcome to Cirque de Nightmare, where all your fears come alive? Well that doesn't sound too bad." (Neko Alice/Vampire Jasper, JALICE)
1. Pilot

**Hello friends! Due to the high number of requests, this is my second neko-based Jalice fanfiction! Thanks to everyone who has stuck around through Lucky Cat and motivated me to keep writing! Please take the time to review if you want to see more! I love hearing your feedback! This story, although polar different from Lucky Cat, will still feature neko Alice and her romantic tale with Jasper in a completely new (and slightly darker) adventure. I hope you enjoy! Without further adeu, here is the Pilot for "Cirque de Nightmare"! **

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Alice's POV

As a child, I always considered myself lucky. The house I grew up in may not have been the nicest, but it definitely shouted "country home" with the sunshine yellow walls and the smell of blueberry pie baking in the kitchen. Mississippi was a great place to live because the people were always friendly and when someone new moved down the road, you always showed up with some kind of baked goods at their doorstep. Momma said when I was born the whole town showed up for the baby shower, which is probably why I had so many toys in the bottom of my closet.

Momma and Papa moved to Biloxi about two years before I came along. Since Momma had just moved out of her parents house, Papa was the sole provider with his degree in science and engineering. They bought a small house on a huge stretch of farmland to the edge of town and decided to buckle down there for the rest of their lives. By the time I was born, Momma had a job working as a wedding dress tailor and was making a lot of income off of it. Unfortunately that meant that as soon as I was out of diapers, she was usually traveling.

That left me home with Papa. He was often working in the basement, where I was forbidden to go. I was too young, he constantly told me, and I could mess up his important research. I never knew what he researched, but he spent a lot of time down there. For some reason this never bothered me. Instead, I spent most of my time growing up outside on the farm, feeding the chickens and riding my beautiful stallion, Jackson. I was a real country girl.

One of my favorite things to do as a child was to help Momma cook. Sometimes, when Momma would have an occasional day at home, I would help her clean the house and then we would go down to the creek and pick berries together. By the afternoon, there would be a fresh pie cooling in the windowsill. Some of my favorite memories were rolling dough on the kitchen counter, listening to the radio and talking about Momma's new dress designs. Momma would call me her "little angel" because I was so small. She always said that even though I was tiny (a whooping four foot six by age fifteen), I had a heart bigger than the world. I knew some kids weren't that close with their Mommas. I knew I was lucky.

Every Sunday, no matter what, we always piled into the blue pickup truck and went to church. I didn't mind church, other than being forced to wear a frilly white dress. The people were always nice to me. The same old woman would tell me every week: "Mary Alice, I just _love _your dress". Even though I hated my dress, I would giggle and thank her because that was the polite thing to do.

Sometimes church would be the only time in the whole week that I saw Momma and Papa sitting together. As I grew older, I started to grow wary of their relationship. They were never as close as two parents should have been. I always assumed it was because they both worked so hard. Still, I felt lucky. They both loved me very much and I knew that no matter what happened, they would always love me.

My luck ran out on my sixteenth birthday. It was a Sunday. We all piled into the pickup truck to go to church, but it was a rainy, dark morning and the roads were really slippery. Another driver lost control of his vehicle around a turn and slammed our truck right off the road and into a big oak tree.

The passenger side was completely caved in, and Momma was killed.

We didn't go to church that day or any day after that because Papa couldn't understand why God would be so cruel to take my momma away from us.

Months later, Papa was still in a deep depression. He hardly ever came out of the basement and when I made him supper he would tell me to leave it on the stove. The same pot would sit there for the next two days because he wouldn't eat it. I was hardly ever home anymore because I had gotten my first job, trying to keep the house. I was only sixteen and my part-time job at the bakery was paying the bills. When I finally confronted Papa about it, he claimed that he was very close to a breakthrough in his research, and when he did, we would be rich beyond our wildest dreams. I believed him.

Before I knew it, Papa started bringing home cats. Whether they were stray cats or adopted, I wasn't sure, but he never had any food or toys for them, he would just take them into the basement and close the door. I wondered if I should call animal control or something, because he had brought in at least twelve different cats in a number of days.

Once I asked him if I could play with the cats, and he shouted at me to leave him and his research alone.

Finally, one early morning, Papa barged into my room and shook me awake. He looked like he hadn't slept in days by the bags under his eyes and the shakiness of his hands.

"Mary Alice," he had said, out of breath. "Come with me. I have something to show you."

Still wearing my nightgown, I followed Papa into the basement. I had never been further than the fifth step from the top, so I had no idea what to expect from the place my father had basically been living out of for three months. What I saw was beyond anything I could explain.

There were cages lining the unfinished walls, each of them full of cats. One or two of them were meowing pitifully at the bars, but most of them lay still, unclear if they were alive or not. The "office" was a wreck; papers were spilled across the ground, test tubes were unmarked and scattered among the desks, and the weirdest thing I saw was a hospital cot locked down in the center of the room. There were restraints fastened on the cot, as if it had been used in a mental facility.

"Papa… what is all this?" I asked him, running my hand along the bars of the cages, briefly stroking the fur of a malnourished-looking feline.

"My research." Papa told me. "I've run all of the tests, Mary Alice. It's going to work, I know it will."

"What's going to work?" I asked, feeling the hair on the back of my neck stand straight.

Something hard hit the back of my head and I fell forward, and that was the last thing I remember as a human.

When I finally awoke, I was in a lot of pain. I tried to move my arms, but they were fastened to my sides by the very restraints I had noticed before. My entire body felt sore and weak, as if there were rocks weighing me down. I turned my head to look around, but everything was much brighter than I remember and I couldn't focus my gaze on anything in particular.

"How do you feel?" A familiar voice shouted, sounding like thunder in my ears. When I opened my mouth to speak, my jaws felt heavy and my lips were dry. When I went to wet them with my tongue, I felt the canines of my mouth much sharper than I remembered them to be.

"What's wrong with me?" I asked, attempting to tug at my restraints again. My ankles were also fastened. "Papa?" There was fear running through every vein of my body, which didn't feel like my own any more.

"My experiment was a success!" Papa shouted again. "Mary Alice, you were the final test!"

"Papa, what did you do?" I cried.

"_Something inhumane!"_ Another voice caught my attention, one that I did not recognize. I struggled to see where it had come from.

"_Something terrible!"_ shouted another unfamiliar voice.

"_Get out while you can!" _

"_He'll hurt you worse!"_

"_Let us out!"_

"_Help us!"_

I jerked my head from side to side, but I could not see anyone in the room except the faint outline of my father, who was crouched over his desk and shuffling through papers. The wider I opened my eyes, the clearer he became. I continued to examine the room for the source of the voices.

The cats. Several of them were meowing and pushing at the bars of their cages, but they were all staring straight at me.

_I can hear you…? _

"Mary Alice." Papa interrupted my train of panicked thought by holding up a hand-held mirror in front of me. The reflection of the light on the ceiling temporarily blinded me and I struggled to adjust my vision once more.

I did not recognize the person in the mirror.

Her eyes were the most striking topaz I had ever seen. I knew it could not be my reflection because my eyes were hazel.

Her hair was cropped short and sticking out in several directions. I knew it could not be my reflection because my hair was longer than my fingertips.

There were large furry ears on the top of her head. I knew it could not be my reflection because that was impossible. To test this theory, I blinked my eyes. They blinked back. I turned my head. The jagged bangs fell across her forehead. I tried to twitch my ears. The furry ones twitched back.

"For years, I have been researching ways to enhance the human body." My father began to explain, setting the mirror down and picking up a folder. "My best hypothesis was by using cross-species genetics. With careful research, I found a way to infuse human DNA with that of a domestic housecat… thus hypothetically giving them the enhanced capabilities of a feline… the perfect vision, extended hearing, sense of smell, balance… to make a form of superhuman. Do you understand?"

I didn't understand. All these years that my father spent locked in his secret laboratory, he was experimenting on animals and trying to create a superspecies while I was upstairs baking pie with my mother?

"Think of all the possibilities, Mary! The elderly who have lost their vision and hearing...the children born with poor sight… we could enhance our bodies just by a few injections! Naturally, I succeeded in all of the possible experimentations. The last step was human subject testing and… well, where was I going to get a volunteer for that?"

"So you use your own daughter?!" I shouted, pulling at my restraints one more.

"Don't you see, Mary Alice? This is a good thing! You're going to be famous! We both are! You're going to have the life you always dreamed of!"

"Let me go!" I cried. "Turn me back! I don't want to be a cat! I want my hair back! I want to wake up!"

"You're not dreaming, Mary Alice, and certain things had to be sacrificed for the better good. There were a few negative side effects of the transformation and until I work the bugs out, I can't sell my serum."

I looked away from my father; my heart pounding out of my chest.

"This is a nightmare."

"_It's not a nightmare."_

"_This is real." _

The cats across the room continued to speak to me, and I wondered if my father even realized. Was I the only one who could hear their language and understand it? Had he expected that to happen?

"W-what side effects?" I whimpered, remembering his words.

"You seem to be experiencing a significant amount of hair loss, much like chemotherapy, I suppose. The injections must have targeted your hair follicles like some sort of radiation." he told me, speaking in words that I didn't quite comprehend. "To save you the despair, I cut most of it off. It was slow down the shedding process, I believe... The feline appendages were also unexpected. I'm not sure how the public will take to growing a tail or losing their hair." Until he had mentioned it, I hadn't even realized the furry tail sitting between my legs. "I'll have to work out the kinks. It will take time but it will be perfected."

"Papa, please, please let me go." I was starting to sob; my lungs gasping for air between cries. "I want to go back to school, I want to see my friends-"

"Didn't you hear me?!" My father raised his voice so loud that it made me jump. I tried to curl my body defensively but my ankles were still mounted to the bottom of the hospital cot. "There is no turning back now. This is for the better good. You won't be going back to school, Mary. You won't be seeing your friends again either." My father leaned over me, sticking something in my mouth that I could only assume to be a thermometer. "Temperature is high, but stable…"

"Papa, please." I whispered, feeling tears running down my cheeks. "Please, let me go."

This time my father did not answer me. He continued to check all of my vitals as if he was a nurse, writing things down on his notepad and typing things into his computer. The only noise came from my own sniffling and the neverending cries of the cats across the room, which only seemed to intensify. Even with the relentless shouts and pleas coming from the cages, and even with my own father standing just several feet away, I had never felt more trapped and alone in my life.

* * *

Over the next several months, I had come to the conclusion that my father was a madman. Whether it was because of Momma's death or not, I wasn't sure, but the man was psychotic. He kept me locked in the basement since the morning of my transformation. I had tried everything, including breaking the little tiny window in the corner and climbing on top of his desk to climb out. Unfortunately he had been one step ahead of me, lining the window with thick barbed wire. It sounded barbaric, but my father was desperate to keep my existence a secret until he had perfected his experiment.

Although he did not neglect me, my father had become distant and uncaring. He no longer apologized when pricking me with needles, taking blood samples or checking my vitals for any kind of abnormality. He fed me the bare minimum and monitored my behavior closely, down to how often I went to the bathroom and how much I slept. I was no longer a daughter to him. I was an experiment.

Thankfully there were no drastic changes in my physicalities. My hair had stopped falling out and had grown just longer than an inch or so. Considering I had been more upset about losing my hair than growing a tail, I was very thankful that it was starting to grow back. I was still the same four-foot-six girl, just with brighter eyes, shorter hair, and two big cat ears atop my head. I had noticed several small differences in my own personality, however. For example, I was constantly tired, often sleeping for several hours of the day. My appetite only craved fish and cream, which was not in the least satisfied by the peanut butter sandwiches that Father would hand me. Sometimes I had to fight the urge to lick my hands when they were dirty. I felt like a cat trapped in a human's body, or vice versa.

I knew that my friends had long forgotten about me. Father informed me about a week after my transformation that he had reported me as a missing child. The entire town of Biloxi searched for weeks, feeling pity for the man who had lost both his wife and daughter within the same year. If only they knew I was here, trapped beneath the house I once called home.

Father's visits to the basement became less frequent, considering he had to get himself an actual job to keep the house (and therefore his research) a secret. My only company was the few number of cats who had survived in the cages. Most were too ill or damaged from my father's beta testing to survive, but the three of them that had lived became my close companions. They roamed free in the basement and I rationed my dinner to share with them. Unknowingly to my father, I could speak their tongue and the three cats had become my only friends.

Eventually, Father often began coming home very intoxicated. He would stumble down into the basement complaining about his job and how his life had been a failure. He would throw a few things around, rip up some papers, and tell me that my life had been a waste as well.

"This experiment… my life's work… it was all a complete failure." He told me, as if I was a friend and not something that he had been pumping full of chemicals for seven months. "You're a failure. You can't do anything except see in the goddamn dark."

He would throw some more things around and then stumble back upstairs for the rest of the night, forgetting to feed me. This happened nine times in a row before I decided that I could use the opportunity to my advantage.

It was a Friday afternoon.

Father would get off of work soon, and I would be waiting for him.

"_Are you sure this is going to work?" _Sylvester meowed from the top of the filing cabinet. _"What if he isn't intoxicated today? What if he sees you standing there with that pipe and hurts you first?" _

"It's Friday." I told him confidently, sitting on my cot and letting my legs dangle off the edge. "He's going to get drunk because it's the weekend and he doesn't have work tomorrow."

Another of my feline friends, Oliver, joined me on my bedside.

"_If you get out of here, what will happen to us?" _he asked me. I reached over and ran my fingers down his ginger spine, stroking his fur.

"I wouldn't dream of leaving you behind. You're coming with me, all three of you." I hadn't exactly come up with an escape plan yet, but I was sure of one thing: when Father came downstairs, I would attack him with the pipe I dismantled from beneath the bathroom sink and knock him unconscious. Then I would upstairs, gather all the food and clothes I could carry, and run away as far as I could.

"_Princess can't make a journey." _Oliver pointed out, glancing towards the tabby cat sleeping quietly in one of the open cages. _"Not when she's expecting my kits. I won't leave her here. When we are freed from this house, we will live on the farmlands and hunt mice until our bellies are full. Our kits will live long and happy lives and know the feeling of sunlight on their pelts." _The tom spoke as if he was daydreaming, shaking his nose and turning his head to look at Sylvester. _"Will you make the journey? Will you keep our Mary Alice safe?" _He meowed. Sylvester nodded quickly and leapt down from the cabinet, settling down in my lap.

"_You saved me when I was on the brink of starvation. I will follow you to the end of the world." _he promised.

I began to stroke Sylvester's head as well, feeling comforted by his presence. I was immensely thankful for the company of these felines, and for the ability to communicate freely with them.

"The sun went down." I pointed at the small window I had once tried to escape through. Between the metal bars that my father had installed, I could see the evening sky getting darker. "He'll be home soon."

I sat very still and waited. Sylvester stood beside me on the cot, one black paw resting on the rusty pipe I had chosen as my weapon. Neither of us spoke, and both of our ears were alert and waiting for the sound of the front door to open upstairs.

Finally, the sound came. I jumped to my feet, grabbing the pipe in my hands and walking over to the base of the stairs. When I stood in the shadows, I was unable to be seen from the top of the stairs. By the time he got to the bottom step, it would be too late.

Part of me was fearful of hurting my own father. Although he may have been cruel, he was also mentally unstable. If there was any way to escape the basement without hurting him, I would have done so. This was my only opportunity.

Sylvester stood in the shadow with me. I could feel the softness of his fur against my bare ankle and it comforted me. We listened to the unsteady footsteps above our heads for several minutes, as if he was pacing.

"_What if he doesn't come down at all?" _Sylvester mewed from my feet. I shushed him as the door at the top of the stairs creaked open.

"Mary Alice?" My father's voice echoed down the stairs. I wasn't sure whether to answer or not, and by better judgement I kept quiet. "Mary Alice?" He called again, sounding slurred. "I'm sorry Mary, I've been a bad father."

His words shocked me, as I was unprepared for him to speak at all.

"I hurt you, I know I did… please forgive me." His voice was wavering, and step by step, I heard him stumbling down the stairs. He was definitely drunk. "Mary, I'm sorry. I'm so… so… sorry. I can change, I can… fix this…I'll make it better, sweetheart, I'll make it right…"

My heart wanted to believe him, but my mind knew better. I gripped the pipe tighter in my hands and stood very still, hoping he would not see my golden eyes glowing in the dark.

"_You must." _Sylvester whispered as if he was reading my mind.

"Mary please answer me, baby…" My father was at the bottom of the steps now. He was standing just steps away from me. Sylvester was right. I had to do it.

With my own cry of regret, I jumped out of the shadows, arms outstretched and pipe in hand. I slammed the PVC into his skull with all the strength in my body.

My father collapsed to the cement, unmoving. My pounding heart was deafening, and for a moment I stood frozen in my spot. Blood began to gather beneath his head, absorbing into the grey concrete and staining it dark.

"No…" I whispered, dropping the pipe loudly and falling down on my knees beside him. "No!"

"_It's over, Mary Alice." _Sylvester meowed from beside me, stroking his tail across my knee. _"He's gone."_

"No!" I shrieked again, covering my mouth with my hand. I felt like I was going to be sick. "I didn't want to kill him! I didn't mean to! Oh God!" My eyes clamped shut, unable to look at his bashed forehead any longer. "No!"

"_Mary Alice," _Sylvester murmured soothingly, _"Look… there, under his jacket." _

I forced myself to look. As the tomcat had pointed out, there was a small black weapon in the belt of his pants, peeking out from behind his jacket. A gun.

"He… he was going to…"

"_Shoot you? Yes, it appears so." _Sylvester meowed sadly. _"You've done the right thing, Mary Alice. It's over now." _

For the next few hours, I replenished myself and reminisced in my childhood home. After eating a fresh cooked meal, I showered and dressed myself in clothes from my bedroom. Sylvester, Oliver, and Princess followed me through the house, eyeing me sadly as I took a look around my home for the last time.

"_We need to go soon." _Sylvester informed me. _"The sun will come up and it will be harder for you to travel during the day." _

He was right. Not only was I supposed to be "missing", I was no longer a human. Certainly I would be gawked at or taken in for some kind of scientific research. They would question my existence and how I became what I was, and then I would be forced to tell them about my father, who had just been murdered by yours truly. Maybe they would think I was some sort of government weapon and shoot me. Maybe all of this was a waste and I was destined to die. anyway.

I shuffled around my bedroom, folding clothes and stuffing them into an extra-large backpack I had once used for school.

"Where will we go?" I mumbled to Sylvester, who lay comfortably at the foot of my bed.

"_Wherever you'd like." _He mewed, licking his paw. _"Preferably somewhere warm. I've had enough of that musty old cellar for a lifetime." _

I couldn't agree with him more.

"_You'll be careful, won't you?" _Princess asked timidly from the doorway, sitting close to her mate. I glanced over at her, smiling at her swollen belly.

"Of course we will. You'll be a wonderful mother, Princess. I hope you all live an easy life for the rest of your days." I continued to stuff miscellaneous items into my backpack. "You too, Oliver. Look after her well."

"_We will tell our children your story, and their children after that. You're a hero, Mary Alice." _Oliver meowed, curling his tail around Princess.

At last, my bag was packed. I had managed to fit several pieces of clothing as well as enough food and water for a few days. After zipping up my bag, I bent down to allow Sylvester to climb onto my shoulders. It was hard walking out the front door for the last time. I had to accept the fact that this was no longer my home.

I said my final goodbyes to Princess and Oliver on the front porch, where they dashed down the field and disappeared into the horizon. After a moment of staring after them, I sighed.

"_We must go." _Sylvester mewed. _"This is no longer the place you once called home, Mary Alice."_

I zipped up my jacket and pulled the hood over my ears. There were a good few hours until sunrise, and I reminded myself that it was important to get as far as possible before daylight.

With Sylvester perched comfortably on my shoulder, I took my first step away from everything I've ever known, plunging into the abyss of a world where I no longer belonged.

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**Where will Mary Alice go? Will she ever find a new place to call home? Who will she meet on this epic journey, and what obstacles lie ahead for our little neko? **

**Let me know what you guys think and stay tuned for the next chapter of "Cirque de Nightmare"!**

**-fuchsialight**

**PREVIEW: THE NIGHT TRAIN **

_I stood in the tree line as the train rumbled past us. It did not whistle. There was no light from the engine. If I hadn't known any better, I would have thought the train was a figment of my imagination; a play of the shadows. My cat-like eyes allowed me to see the graffiti on the cars, even through the darkness, and they were moving slowly enough on the tracks that I was able to make out what kind of art it was. _

_On one car, a vintage-style advertisement read: "SEE MAN TURN INTO BEAST BEFORE YOUR EYES". On another car, "THE WORLD'S STRONGEST MAN". Some of the cars had no words, simply bright streams of color and pictures of balloons, animals, and men with top hats. After watching several of these roll by, I saw a line of large car-sized cages with different animals: lions, tigers, elephants, and horses to be exact. By the time the animal carts had turned back into passenger cars, it had dawned upon me exactly what I was looking at._

_It was, more or less, a circus train._


	2. The Night Train

**Hello my friends! Here is the first official chapter to "Cirque de Nightmare"! A BIG special thank you to those of you who reviewed- deltagirl74, Shadow Huntress, Godisgood3, guest, and Demigoddess2012! I hope you enjoy! As always, let me know what you think so far and what you think is going to happen in the next installment! :D Love always, fuchsia light.**

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**1. THE NIGHT TRAIN**

Sylvester and I traveled for two days on foot, resting during the day and walking at night. Our plan was to make it out of Mississippi by the end of the week and head west towards the hot plains of Texas. It was already proving to be a long and perilous journey. Several times we were forced to change our path, and by twilight of the third day, I had come to the realization that we were lost.

"_Well the sun sets to the west, doesn't it? That means we're headed in generally the correct direction…" _Sylvester tried to assure me, but I was exhausted from walking all night and not in the mood to hear reason.

"We are completely lost." I sighed, sinking down against the stump of an oak tree. "We're almost out of water, I smell like a garbage bin and I'm being eaten alive by mosquitos."

"_Fear not, Mary Alice. We should rest here for a few hours." _Sylvester curled up beside me in a patch of soft grass. I looked around. We were hours into the wilderness, so I was not concerned about being found by anyone. The woods stretched for as far as I could see in every direction, and it only made me feel more hopeless about our situation.

"We're never going to make it to Texas." I muttered, digging into my backpack and pulling out what was left of our fresh water. My dry tongue was barely quenched by the few droplets I allowed myself. The rest of it, I dumped out on a thick leaf for Sylvester to drink.

The sun was just beginning to rise, lightening the color of the clouds but not yet appearing over the horizon. The sky was still dark enough to close my eyes and rest with the imagination that I was a normal girl, going to sleep at a normal hour.

Just when I was about to doze off, I was awoken by a low rumbling sound. The ears on top of my head twitched curiously, and as I glanced down at Sylvester, I saw him stirring as well.

"What is that?" I asked myself, getting to my feet. The ground below began to vibrate, sending chills up the back of my spine. "Is it an earthquake?"

Seconds later, the rumbling had become so loud that I was forced to cover my ears with my hands. At the same time, I spotted movement from behind the trees. After throwing my backpack over my shoulder and scooping Sylvester onto my shoulder, I ran towards the cause of the noise. To my surprise, there was a massive train rolling straight through the middle of the woodlands. If it hadn't have come through, I wouldn't have realized there were train tracks there at all.

I stood in the tree line as the train rumbled past us. It did not whistle. There was no light from the engine. If I hadn't known any better, I would have thought the train was a figment of my imagination; a play of the shadows. My cat-like eyes allowed me to see the graffiti on the cars, even through the darkness, and they were moving slowly enough on the tracks that I was able to make out what kind of art it was.

On one car, an advertisement read: "SEE MAN TURN INTO BEAST BEFORE YOUR EYES". On another car, "THE WORLD'S STRONGEST MAN". Some of the cars had no words, simply bright streams of color and pictures of balloons, animals, and men with top hats. After watching several of these roll by, I saw a line of car-sized cages with different animals: lions, tigers, elephants, and horses to be exact. By the time the animal cages had turned back into passenger cars, it had dawned upon me exactly what I was looking at.

It was, more or less, a circus train.

"Amazing..." I cooed, watching car after car soar past us. "Imagine that, a circus train all the way out here?"

_"They're probably traveling to a larger city." _Sylvester noted. _"I've only heard stories about it on the street. They say it never stays in one place longer than a few days, then it moves onto another big town further on."_

I pursed my lips together, watching the train roll on as Sylvester spoke in my ear.

"Do you think I could live with the circus?" I asked suddenly, looking at him. The cat on my shoulder looked horrified.

_"Why would you even consider it? I heard they keep lions and tigers in small cages and beat them with hot sticks. Call me crazy, but that sounds a little too familiar to me." _He was referring to the cage he was kept in during my father's experiments.

It sounded cruel, and Sylvester was probably right, but it seemed like the opportunity was waving right in front of my face. If I didn't take the chance now, who knew if I would ever get a chance like it again?

I had only been to a circus once or twice when I was a little girl. It seemed like a millennium ago when I was walking from tent to tent, gripping Momma's hand to my left and munching on sweet cotton candy to my right. I remember the lady who rode the elephants and the man who did magic tricks, but the things that stood out most of all in my mind were the strange people I saw wandering around. There was a large woman with a long beard, two conjoined Siamese twins, and even a man with a lizard tongue. Momma told me to stay away from them and we went to ride the kiddie rides instead, but I always remember wondering what was wrong with those poor strangers.

"But maybe I could fit in there..." I suggested, thinking about those people.

_"Yes, maybe if you want to have children pointing their grubby little fingers at you all of the time instead." _It was clear where Sylvester stood on the matter.

The train continued to roll by, as if it was never ending. I stood quietly for a long moment, wondering if the train would ever come to an end, but as far as I could see into the woods, the cars continued to rumble past. I held my breath and gripped the straps of my backpack, preparing myself to run.

"_Are you crazy?" _Sylvester demanded, digging his claws into my shoulder. _"You're really going to try and jump onto a moving train? A circus train at that…" _I wasn't about to wait for him to finish lecturing me. The train wouldn't go on forever, and if I didn't act soon I would miss my chance. I emerged from the tree line, holding my breath and making a break for it.

Jumping onto the train was not as easy as I had expected it to be. It was moving just fast enough that I was out of breath trying to keep up with one of the carts. I extended my hand out in attempts to grab onto the back of one.

"_Mary Alice, you're the craziest human I've ever met!" _My cat companion yelled, no doubt struggling to stay latched onto my shoulder. _"You're never going to make it!"_

Even with Sylvester shouting doubt in my ear, I was determined. If I could grab onto the frame of one of the cars, I could pull myself up and stand on one of the hitches that held the cars to one another. With the train continuing to speed past, I glanced back and realized the caboose was in sight. This was my last opportunity.

I lunged.

To my surprise, my fingers found the metal railing that framed the caboose. With every aching muscle of my body, I thrust myself over the rail and onto the safety of the platform. There was a door behind me that led into the train, but I was forced to lean over the railing to catch my breath. I could feel Sylvester's tiny heart pounding against my shoulder.

"_Crazy," _he panted, _"Absolutely crazy."_

For several minutes I stood on the back of the train, watching the endless tracks run what seemed like forever. When the sun rose over the horizon and began to shine into my eyes, I decided to step inside.

The car that I had stepped into was empty. There were two benches on either side to sit down and a sliding door that led further into the train. I slowly made my way towards the door.

"_Are you sure you want to barge in like this?" _Sylvester meowed cautiously.

"Stop doing that."

"_Hm? Doing what?"_

"Doubting me." I pulled up the hood of my jacket and took a deep breath before opening the door.

Before I had taken one step through the doorway, I was thrown backwards into the caboose and knocked to the ground. My elbows broke my fall, making them ache uncomfortably. Sylvester had leaped off my shoulder before I hit the floor and was standing stiffly a few feet away from me.

"Who the hell are you?" The man who had spoken was huge. He had short brown hair and a square jaw on a body that was bigger than I had ever seen in my life. As he towered over me in an intimidating way, the words I attempted to speak were caught in my throat. "When did you get in here? Have you been riding with us since Jacksonville?"

"What's going on, Emmett?" Another voice called from behind the giant, this time that of a softer tone. "Oh? Who is this? A little girl?"

I began to sit up slowly, focusing my eyes on the skinny boy who had appeared behind my attacker. He had light auburn hair that was swept upwards in a fashionable fauxhawk. His expression was much more gentle than Emmett's.

"M-my name is Mary Alice…." I stuttered, hoping that staring at the younger boy would save me from the intimidation of locking eyes with the large man. "And I'm not a little girl…"

"You're smaller than my arm." Emmett laughed and it echoed through the train. He turned his head to look at his smaller companion. "Can you believe this? She must have snuck on in Jacksonville." His strict gaze laid on me once more. "You're a long way from home."

"I'm not from Jacksonville." I told him, finally climbing to my feet. Even standing as tall as I could, Emmett was right. I hardly came up to his stomach. The boy behind him was significantly shorter, but he still stood a few feet taller than me. "I'm from Biloxi."

Emmett laughed again, but the other boy stayed quiet.

"How old are you, like twelve?" he snorted. "Whatever boo-hoo problems you have, suck it up and go home."

"Excuse me!" I snapped, clenching my fists at my sides. "I'm sixteen, thank you, and you've got no business being rude to me!" I wasn't about to inform him that I didn't have a home in the first place.

"That's my job, sweetheart. _You've_ got no business being on this train. The boss ain't gonna like this one." Emmett reached out and grabbed the fabric of my hoodie, tugging me towards the door he had just shoved me out of.

"Let me go!" I shouted, fighting him. His fingers were tightly in my jacket, and while I struggled to break free from his grasp, my hood fell down my neck and revealed the large black ears atop my head.

"Emmett, wait!" The shorter boy raised his hand and the grip of Emmett's hand immediately loosened. "Look."

I shifted uncomfortably as both of them stared at my ears. I twitched them slightly, proving to them that they were real.

"What are you?" The large man asked in a hushed tone, crouching down in front of me. His entire demeanor had changed from threatening to full of concern, and I could finally see directly into his eyes.

"I'm just… just Mary Alice." I answered nervously, taking a step away from him.

"She's one of us. I knew her aura was different." The auburn-haired teen fixed his bright green eyes on me and motioned for me to walk towards him. I did.

"You've got to be kidding. There's no way in hell Aro is going to be okay with this." Emmett muttered. "Another mouth to feed on this train to hell? You know he's going to kill us."

"That's Emmett." The thin boy introduced me, setting his hand on my shoulder. His touch was surprisingly calming. "He's a bit of a hothead, but he'll grow on you."

"Sure, make me sound like the bad guy." Emmett's laugh echoed through the empty car. "That's Edward Mason for you right there. Nicest guy you'all ever meet until you get him drunk. Ha!"

The two of them laughed loudly, and I had a feeling the static of the situation had let off.

"My name is Mary Alice Brandon." I introduced myself for the third time, pulling my hood up again.

"Three first names? What a mouthful. How about we just call you one of 'em instead?" Emmett chuckled.

"I guess Alice is okay." I decided, using the nickname my friends used to call me. Soft fur brushed against my ankle and I nearly jumped. "Oh! This is Sylvester."

My feline companion leaped onto my shoulder and stared at the men in front of me.

_"Are you sure you can trust these two fools?"_

"You brought your pet?" Emmett sounded perplexed.

"He can understand you." I warned him, crossing my arms defensively. "He's not my pet, he's my friend, and I can understand him too."

"Fascinating..." Edward cooed with a smile. "How did this come to be?"

"It's a long story..." I told them, shifting my feet. "But I've been walking since last sunset... do you think we could rest first?"

The two boys glanced at each other.

"We've gotta take her to the boss." Emmett said uncertainly. "He'll be pissed if we don't."

"Surely we can wait until she has rested." Edward argued. "Come with me, Alice. You can rest in our room."

Emmett didn't seem to argue with his shorter companion, so I followed the two of them into the next car.

The next couple of cars were used for storage. There were vintage style cotton candy and popcorn stands pushed up against the wall and surrounded by boxes. There were many props like giant hoops and costumes, as well as wheels upon wheels of rope.

I stopped in front of a large billboard-sized sign that was black with stark white lettering and read the words out loud.

"Welcome to Cirque de Nightmare, where all your fears come alive." There was a shiver down my spine that I tried to ignore. "That doesn't sound so bad."

_"Are you kidding me? That doesn't sound like a circus. That sounds like the summary of a horror movie!" _Sylvester hissed. _"You don't know anything about these people. You certainly can't trust them." _

Sylvester was interrupted when Emmett slid open the door to the fourth car, revealing a much different environment. There was dim light coming from the candles that burned on either side of the wall. Two beds of hay, one much larger than the other, were placed to one side of the room. Each had some ratty blankets and a worn out pillow, but both looked comfortable compared to the places I had recently been sleeping. In a weird way, the room reminded me of a comfortable barn.

"Home sweet home." Edward extended his hand towards the beds of hay, offering them to me. "You can make yourself comfortable. At noon we will wake you and take you to Aro."

I leaned down in the smaller nest of hay, which was no doubt Edward's bed. Sylvester dismounted by shoulder and settled down beside me.

"Will your boss let me stay?" I asked quietly, looking up at them from my spot on the ground. From where I lay, Emmett's face was a mere shadow.

"We don't know yet." Edward furrowed his brow. "We normally don't take on strangers. If you're lucky, he'll like you enough to keep you around."

"And if I'm not lucky?" I asked.

"Then you better hope he's nice enough to slow the train down before he throws you off." Emmett finished, leaning against the wall. My eyes widened.

"Would he really...?"

Edward sighed and gave Emmett a warning glare. "Rest easy, Alice. Aro has been desperate for a new act. You might be just what this circus needs." He smiled reassuringly at me. For some reason, I wasn't so reassured.

* * *

I woke to loud arguing nearby. I could see Sylvester next to me, but by the position of his ears I was certain that he was alert as well.

"_-since Jacksonville?"_

"_No, she said she jumped on in Biloxi." _

"_I thought you said it was a kid-"_

"_She is."_

"_What kind of kid can jump on a moving train?"_

Before I could eavesdrop further, a pair of large men burst through the door. By large, I mean not quite as massive as Emmett, but still large enough to be double my size. One of them had short dark hair and the other with chin-length blonde hair that appeared from outside their matching dark cloaks.

I bolted into a sitting position, dusting hay from my jacket as if it was going to save my appearance.

"Is this it then?" The blonde one said coldly, standing in front of me and staring down at me with dark eyes. I glanced aside as Emmett burst into the room behind them.

"Ahem, Caius, this is Alice." he announced.

"You didn't tell Aro? Why?" The other tall man demanded, approaching me as well. I was cornered between the two of them.

"Well we were going to-" Emmett began.

"It seems to me that you don't take your position very seriously." Caius cleared his throat. He seemed to be much older than Emmett, maybe in his mid-forties. "You're supposed to be preventing this sort of thing from happening."

"I take my position very seriously." Emmett defended himself, cracking his knuckles. "Look at her, she's just a kid. What did you want me to do, throw her off the train?"

"Maybe." Caius sneered. "You, get up."

Before I could climb to my feet, the blonde man grabbed the sleeve of my jacket and yanked me upwards.

"Wait!" Another voice quickly piped in. I recognized the voice as Edward's. "I've already spoken to Aro."

All of us turned to look at Edward with large eyes. The men had obviously not expected him to speak up.

"_Well?"_ Caius prompted.

"He wants to see her immediately." Edward stated carefully from the doorway. I looked at his eyes hoping for reassurement, but the auburn-haired teen looked uneasy. The rough grip on my jacket loosened.

"Very well."

Sylvester sat at my feet, and I could tell he was unsure of what to do.

"You stay here." I told him gently.

"_Are you sure?"_

"Positive. Even if he doesn't let me stay, I'll come back for you." I pat his head and straightened up, walking towards the doorway that Edward stood in. The two men stared at me coldly as I passed them, but Emmett and Edward both smiled at me. I could definitely tell who my friends would be.

The train was about fifty or so cars long. We walked through many rooms, but I lost count because I was so enthralled in everything I could see. Just when I thought we would have to walk through the animal cages I had seen from the tree line, Edward stopped in front of a large elegant looking door.

"Aro is waiting for you." he said cooly, resting his hand on the doorknob. I was waiting for him to speak words of comfort, but that was all he had to say. Before I could speak, Edward opened the door and nudged me inside.

The room was empty except for what appeared to be a single dining table. It was set for two, which made me wonder if their boss had expected my arrival. Although I wasn't sure what I was expecting from this man, it definitely wasn't a formal dinner.

"Ahh, you must be the young runaway." Aro's voice was smooth like silk. He sat on the opposite side of the table with his elbows resting on the tablecloth, fingers linked beneath his chin. "Come, come. Have a seat."

Uncomfortably, I made my way over to the table and sat down. Now that I was close to the man, I could clearly make out his defined facial features. He was an older man, yet there was not a wrinkle on his skin nor a blemish on his face. His nose was long and sharp, and I realized quickly that his eyes had not been a play of the light- they were red.

"What's your name?" Aro inquired, picking up a bottle of (champagne? wine?) and pouring an identical amount into two glasses.

"Mary Alice." I answered quietly. "Er, Alice."

"The pleasure is mine. I am Aro. As I'm sure you have deducted, this is my circus." Before I could answer he continued, "Have you ever seen our circus perform?"

"No." I held the glass he handed me in shaky fingers.

"What made you decide to hitch a ride on our little express?" he asked, narrowing his ruby-colored eyes at me. I swallowed hard, setting the glass down without taking a drink.

"It was more of an accident." I told him. "A last minute decision."

"Ah. A spur of the moment choice. Let me warn you, Alice, those are not always the best decisions to make." Aro's voice sounded taunting and polite at the same time. "This is not a normal circus."

"_Cirque de Nightmare."_ I quoted. "It doesn't exactly sound like a picture-perfect circus to me."

Aro smiled, but did not laugh.

"One of my employees says that you are special. Would you mind showing me what it is that makes him say that?"

Aro's demonic eyes were fixed on me, making me more nervous than I should have been. Then again, it was only the second time I had revealed my deformation to anyone. I pulled down my hood, revealing my inhuman ears. My tail poked out from behind me. Aro stared at me for a long moment before speaking.

"Is that all?" he smiled.

"Yes."

"You don't have any special talents or skills?"

I shook my head, waiting for him to say more, but the red-eyed man merely shook his head and sipped his beverage.

"Alice," He finally began, "If I let anyone with an abnormal appearance on this train, my family would go hungry and we'd look like fools. There's nothing _terrifying _or even remotely _creepy _about a tiny girl with cat ears." I felt my ears flatten against my head as he spoke, feeling slightly more ashamed of them. "I'm afraid there is no room for you here." As if on cue, the door behind me slid open and the same blonde man from earlier stepped into the room, silent as a snake. Caius grabbed my arm, pulling me out of my chair and letting it fall loudly to the ground. As I struggled in midair, Aro stood elegantly and cleared his throat.

"Curiosity killed the cat, Alice." He laughed in a sadistic way and motioned for his henchman to carry me away. "Throw her off."

I gasped and struggled harder, but Caius was too strong. He dragged me to the side of the room, where he slid open the door that opened to the outside.

_Is this really how I'm supposed to die? After all of this? _I thought to myself, grabbing onto whatever fabric and flesh I could to keep from being pushed out the door. I could feel the wind rushing through the doorway, pushing my hair back and chilling me to the bone. _Not like this! _

The moment that Caius threw me forwards, something inside of me snapped. There was a burst of energy in my veins and in complete desperation, I grabbed onto the edge of the doorway. My legs flew out from underneath me and I was stuck in a completely horizontal position against the wall of the train.

Wind was blowing harshly in my face, making it difficult to see with my watery eyes. My fingers were wrapped so tightly around the edge of the door that even when I thought about letting go, I couldn't.

_Sylvester is still on the train! _I realized, gripping the steel. _I can't leave him behind! _

In a quick and swift movement, I bent backwards and swung my legs over the top of my head, locking them around the same slab of steel that my fingers were gripping. In a complete backbend, I was able to finish my mid-air somersault and land safely back inside the door.

Half expecting to be grabbed once more by Aro's henchman, I extended my sharp nails and slashed in every direction, managing to cut the skin of Caius' arm before running past him. It wasn't until I had made it across the car to the opposite wall that I realized what I had just done.

My knees buckled out from underneath me and I fell down against the wall, panting hard.

"Now hold on…" Aro was smirking with content. "I thought you said you didn't have any talents or abilities?"

I glared at them both and tried to catch my breath, but my heart was pounding out of my chest.

"I didn't think I did." I finally choked out, resting my head against the wall of the train. By the smile on Aro's face, I assumed that I was out of the fire- for now.

* * *

**What did you think? Alice has officially met Emmett and Edward... although you don't know too much about them yet. ;) Aro is as creepy as always, but it's quite suiting for him to be the ringleader, don't you think? Don't you guys worry, Alice will meet Jasper soon enough! :D Keep reading! Here's a preview from the next chapter!**

**2. THE MAGIC, THE MERMAID, AND THE SOUTHERN GENTLEMAN**

_"She's beautiful…" I had never seen someone so gorgeous in my life. Rosalie couldn't be compared to magazine or runway models. She had the sort of beauty that needed no touchups or photoshop. I was in awe staring at her flawless perfection. Even with the thin wall of glass between us, we fixed eyes on each other and couldn't seem to turn away. She smiled at me with teeth like pearls and eyes brighter than the water she breathed. After what seemed like ages, Rosalie turned away, swimming to the far corner of the tank and resting in a bed of coral. Her long shimmering tail sprawled out in front of her, reminding me that what I saw was not completely human. Her beauty, I realized, was her irresistible charm. Emmett had warned me of such._

_"She's really wonderful." He sighed from beside me. "But as you can see, she's limited. Imagine living your life out of a fish tank…"_


	3. Magic, Mermaid, & the Southern Gentleman

**Big thanks to all of you who have been reviewing and keeping up with this fanfiction! :) Neko-shaped cookies for all of you! Enjoy this chapter! **

* * *

**2. THE MAGIC, THE MERMAID, AND THE SOUTHERN GENTLEMAN**

"_I can't believe he is letting you stay." _Sylvester meowed, rubbing his nose against my wrist in an affectionate way and curling up beside me. "_Tell me again what happened."_

"I told you, I don't know." I muttered in frustration, crossing my legs. The hay of Edward's bed didn't feel as soft as it had before. "One minute that man-lady was about to throw me off the train, and then the next thing I know, I'm flipping back inside." It happened so fast that I didn't remember the details, although my sore back was telling me it involved some sort of uncomfortable maneuver.

"_Perhaps the experimentation resulted in some sort of superpower?" _The tomcat suggested. "_How else would you describe it?"_

The two of us were alone in the same bunking car as before, near the end of the train. After the showdown in the dining car, Aro suggested that Edward take me back to his room while he prepared a contract with the details of my new position.

He had told me that I was just the sort of new act they needed.

_"Are you sure you want to do this?" _Sylvester continued to interrogate me. _"You won't be able to step out of this once you sign that contract." _

"Thank you, Captain Obvious." I rolled my eyes, resting my head on the lumpy pillow to the top of the bed. "I know what I _don't _want. I _don't _want to spend the rest of my life running from everyone because I'm supposed to be dead and human. If they find out what happened to my father... My fingerprints are on that pipe, Sylvester."

"_Whose fingerprints? Alice's? Or Mary Alice's?" _He purred. I gave him a confused look, so he continued. _"Your DNA changed, remember? You transformed. The only remnants of anyone they are going to find in there are your father's and the fingerprints of a girl who was never technically born."_

His words relieved me, but thinking about my father was still upsetting.

"Even if we had gotten to Texas, what would we do? Live in an old abandoned house for the rest of our lives, hiding from everyone?" The words sounded meaner than I thought they'd be. "There's people here, Sylvester. There are people who are different, like me."

_"You can't trust them." _He meowed coldly, curling his tail around his nose and ending the conversation. I watched him attempt to sleep, wondering if he would have rather stayed with his friends on the farm.

Minutes later, the door slid open and Edward stepped inside. I was relieved to see that it was him and not Caius or the other henchman. Both of them intimidated me.

"You gave Caius quite the cut on his arm." The thin boy smiled, walking over and sitting down on the edge of my bed. "He's not happy with you, but if Aro says he wants you to stay, then Caius will behave. Are you alright?"

I blinked several times and realized he was talking about my stunt off the side of the train.

"A little sore, but I'm fine." I assured him, wrapping my tail around my waist. "Did Aro say anything?"

Edward shook his head.

"No. He told me to look after you until you're in better condition. How long have you been traveling, anyway?" He dug into his pocket and pulled out a large baked bun, handing it to me. I immediately took a bite. Despite being slightly hard, it was delicious.

"I few days, I guess." I had lost track of time in the wilderness. "We started walking from Biloxi and ended up here."

"You're very brave." Edward dipped his head respectfully and sat down beside me. "All the way from Biloxi, and having to leave your home behind. Living in fear of your own father... I don't blame you for leaving."

My eyes widened and I swallowed hard, dropping the rest of my lunch on my lap.

"H-how do you know that?" I stuttered. The auburn-haired boy turned his lips into a smile.

"You caught me. I'm a telepath." He told me, tapping his forehead to emphasize. "A mind reader."

"You... You read minds?" I gasped, immediately trying to clear my head of every embarrassing thought. Edward chuckled.

"That's right."

"Wait, if you knew that, then why did you ask me how I became like this?" I demanded, flicking my ears curiously.

"Emmett wanted to know. He was too afraid to ask." Edward leaned back against the wall of the room. The bed of hay was big enough for both of us to sit on.

"So... Do you read people's fortunes then?" I asked.

"No, not at all. I can't see the future. I can only see in someone's mind. It's good for magic tricks."

"Ahh." That made sense. "So you play with people's heads because you can _see _inside their heads. That's smart." I giggled. Sylvester's ear twitched against my hand.

"My father was Edward the Great. He knew how to pull rabbits out of hats and cut women in half, but he never had the sort of powers that I have. I imagine he was proud of me, picking up on his tricks so easily..." Edward smiled smugly, as if he was looking back on a fond memory.

"That's great." I said encouragingly, sensing that he felt some sort of loss there.

"I'm a better magician than my old man ever was, and it isn't just because I can read minds. I may have learned some of my tricks from him, but who I am today is because of me alone."

I smiled at him, unsure of what to say. From what I had seen, Edward was the nicest boy on this train and he hardly looked older than myself. I hoped he would be considered my first friend on this crazy train.

"Perhaps I can show you my act sometime." He laughed, and it was clear that the serious moment had ended. "For now, you should finish eating that and continue to rest." He glanced down at my half-eaten bread and urged for me to finish it.

"Edward?" I wondered out loud, popping the last bit of bread onto my tongue.

"Hmm?"

"How many others are there?" I pondered. Edward smiled his signature grin and stood up, dusting hay from himself.

"In the world? Countless. Everyone is special, some of us just have more prominent looks or capabilities. Here? There's a nice handful. We're a family. That's the first thing you need to learn if you choose to stay here. Family means forever." Edward headed back to the doorway. "Sleep well, Alice."

The thin boy disappeared behind the door and the room was silent once more.

* * *

I awoke several hours later feeling quite refreshed and left Sylvester resting soundly in the bed of hay. After I got up, I made my way across the room towards the sliding door. My bladder was just about to burst and I hoped there would be somewhere to use the bathroom on the train.

I slid open the door and looked around. There was no one in the car, or for the next three cars after that. I kept my eyes out for a restroom, but didn't see one. After sneaking through several doors, including the one which led into the dining car from earlier, I was beginning to give up hope.

"Alice! You're awake!"

I was startled by the sudden booming voice behind me and jumped several inches into the air. Emmett laughed at my surprise and put his massive hand on my shoulder.

"What're you doing all the way down here?" he asked me.

"Looking for a bathroom..." I muttered, feeling my bladder shake uncomfortably. Going long periods of time without using the restroom was not something I thought about when I started this journey.

"You're in luck." Emmett guided me towards the next car, opening the door and leading me into a room that reminded me of a restaurant bathroom, with stalls and a number of sinks. I quickly thanked him and darted into one of the stalls. To my great discomfort, Emmett stayed.

"So Edward said you were gonna be stickin' around." He called. I sat down on the toilet and tried to talk over the sound of relieving my bladder.

"Aro said he liked me." I said, reaching for the toilet paper. "But that was after he tried to throw me off the train."

"Oh don't worry, the whole train heard about your little stunt off the side of the dining car. So you're a little acrobat? That's cute." Emmett laughed as I stood and fixed my shirt over my pants. The hoodie I was wearing since day one was dirty and ripped by now, and my backpack of clothes was still in the bunking car.

"I didn't know I could do that." I sighed, coming out of the stall and walking past him to wash my hands. "It just happened. Do you always linger in the bathroom when someone is trying to go?"

"Hey, family is family." Emmett responded with a shrug of his broad shoulders and a loud laugh that might have been a chuckle but with his bass sounded more like thunder. "It looks like you're part of the family now, squirt."

"Don't call me that." I wiped my hands on my jacket. I turned to face him. "Who else is here? I've only really seen you and Edward... And those creeps that tried to throw me off the train."

"Aha! That's Caius and Alec for you. They're Aro's sidemen. There's nothing special about them, and they're grumpy as all hell. They're just here to keep everyone in line, if that's what you want to call it... Come on, I'll introduce you to the others."

Before I could speak, Emmett was pulling my wrist through yet another door.

"A-are you sure? Maybe we should wait..." I began uncertainly.

"Relax. Remember where you are, Alice. This is a _circus _train full of _freaks_. Nobody is going to judge you."

We walked into another bunking room. I immediately noticed two large guys leaning casually against the wall in beds of hay quite similar to the one in Edward and Emmett's room. They both turned to look at me in synchronization. One of them was slightly larger with broad muscles, and the other was skinnier with a baby-like face. Both of them were tan-skinned with dark hair and dark eyes.

"You must be Alice." said the smaller of the two, jumping to his feet. I was feeling especially small compared to all these tall boys. "Welcome to the circus! My name's Seth." He put his hand out to shake mine, which I awkwardly did. "That's Jacob."

I squinted my eyes at the two of them, trying to find anything about them that stood out. There was nothing as obvious as my ears or Emmett's massive size.

"Meet the Black brothers." Emmett grinned. "Try not to look so excited, Jake."

The larger of the tan boys gave me a quick glare, as if it was my fault that Emmett had spoken out.

"You really brought a cat in here?" He sounded irritated.

"Hey, she's part of the family now. Get used to it." Emmett started to guide me through the door to the next room. "I'm introducing her to the others." He explained.

"See you later, Alice!" Seth called, waving excitedly from where he was. I smiled at him and quickly hurried through the door after Emmett, letting it close behind us.

"I thought you said no one was going to judge me." I frowned.

"Don't pay any attention to Jake. He's always in a bad mood. Seth is great though. A real trooper."

We walked through another empty car.

"Why are all the rooms so spread out?" I asked.

"We like our privacy." Emmett shrugged. "Rosalie's room is in the next car." He stopped walking suddenly, causing me to bump into him. "Rosalie is..."

"Someone else in a bad mood?" I assumed, twitching the tip of my tail. I was relieved to hear that there was at least another girl on this train.

"Oh no, not at all. Rosalie is great." Emmett smiled. "You'll love her. It's just hard to look away. You'll see what I mean." He opened the next door and revealed a room very unlike the rest of the train I had seen so far.

It was as if I had walked into an aquarium. There was a blue glow to the room that came from a large tank, reaching from ceiling to floor. Other than a narrow walkway from one door to the next, the entire train car was designed to be a fish tank.

Floating idly in the fish tank was a beautiful blonde woman. Her hair was long and bellowed in the water like individual fans of gold. There were several strings of pearls around her neck and wrists, and other than a bikini top, she was naked. Above her waist she appeared to be a goddess, but her hips blended into a long silvery fish tail. Rosalie was a mermaid.

"She's beautiful…" I had never seen someone so gorgeous in my life. Rosalie couldn't be compared to magazine or runway models. She had the sort of beauty that needed no touchups or photoshop. I was in awe staring at her flawless perfection. Even with the thin wall of glass between us, we fixed eyes on each other and couldn't seem to turn away. She smiled at me with teeth like pearls and eyes brighter than the water she breathed. After what seemed like ages, Rosalie turned away, swimming to the far corner of the tank and resting in a bed of coral. Her long shimmering tail sprawled out in front of her, reminding me that what I saw was not completely human. Her beauty, I realized, was her irresistible charm. Emmett had warned me of such.

"She's really wonderful." He sighed from beside me. "But as you can see, she's limited. Imagine living your life out of a fish tank…"

"She can't leave the water?" I asked timidly, touching the glass with my fingertips.

"She can, but not for very long. That's why she prefers to stay like this. The whole tank separates from the train. You know, for shows and stuff..." He motioned towards the tank and then gave a quick wave to the blonde. She waved back and swam back to us.

"Hello." Rosalie spoke as if the water was air and a only a gentle stream of bubbles from her lips reminded them otherwise.

"Hi." I answered through the glass, pulling my hands away and stuffing them back into my hoodie pockets.

"How you holding up, Rose?" Emmett leaned against the side of the tank and I wondered if his weight alone would be enough to crack the glass.

"The water is a little cold, but I'm great." Rosalie answered, her voice surprisingly clear through the glass. "It's nice to meet you, Alice."

"Y-you too." I stuttered, unsure of how she knew my name already.

Emmett spoke a few more hushed words with Rosalie before we moved on into the next room.

"She was nice." I noted.

"She's lovely." He corrected me. "We were in Miami a few months ago doing a big headliner tour. Aro found her off the coast of Florida with a fishing hook stuck in her tail. He invited her to come travel with us." Emmett took me into another room, ending his story abruptly.

"Emmett, I told you to knock before you came barging in here." A cool voice scolded from across the room before we had even entered. I felt the urge to hide my face, as if it had been my choice to go into the room.

"How did you know it was me?" Emmett chortled.

"Because everyone else has learned to knock." The voice answered. I looked up at the owner of the soothing monotone and fixed my topaz eyes on the most beautiful man I had ever seen.

His hair fell in blonde waves and his eyes were even more red than Aro's. His skin, of what I could see, was porcelain white. He stared back at me with ruby eyes and then returned his gaze to Emmett. I tried to look away but his beauty had me paralyzed from my head to the tip of my tail.

"Alice, this is Jasper Whitlock." I vaguely heard Emmett say behind the parade of cartoon hearts that must have been soaring from my eyes.

"Ah, so this is the new girl I've heard rumor about." The more Jasper spoke, the more I realized he had a strong southern accent. I couldn't put my finger on it, but it was pleasant, like music to my furry ears. "It's a pleasure to meet you ma'am."

I blinked.

_Ma'am?_

"Does she talk?" Jasper's voice continued, bringing me from my thoughts.

"O-oh, sorry, thank you, I mean, hello." I smiled, tripping over my own words. Emmett was laughing, but I could only stare at the curve of Jasper's pale lips.

"You've done it again, haven't you?" He accused.

"I don't know _what _you're talking about." Jasper responded with the most devious smirk I had ever seen.

"You can't seduce every girl on this train, you know that? It's not fair to the rest of us."

"Occupational hazard."

Jasper got up from his position on the ground and approached us. The closer he got, the faster my heart began to pound.

"What do you do?" He asked me curiously, reaching out to touch my ear. I nearly fainted.

"I... I don't really do anything." I told him quietly.

"That's not what I heard about the little fiasco on the train earlier." The blonde man pulled his hand back, dropping it slowly to his side. I was memorized by the graceful movement of his arm.

"I couldn't do that again if I tried." I shrugged, almost forgetting that Emmett was still in the room with us. It felt as if Jasper and I were the only two people alive.

"Well you better start practicing if you plan on staying with us." Jasper smirked. "Aro doesn't let just anyone on the _Train de Nightmare._"

"Yeah, but he's getting desperate." Emmett interrupted. "You saw the ticket sales over the past three months. Our fanbase has completely dwindled."

For the first time, I looked away from Jasper and stared at Emmett again.

"You're going out of business?" I asked, shocked.

"We've had the same act for a year and a half." Emmett shrugged. "People get tired of seeing the same thing."

"I can see where Aro is going with the idea." Jasper smiled coolly. "Bringing in someone like Alice- young, cute, interesting... It's wise of him, really. You might be the new star in the big top."

"Er, who was the last big star?" I asked curiously, wondering how someone like me would be able to become the main attraction so easily. Emmett and Jasper looked at each other warily and before I could say anything, the two of them had changed the subject.

"Our next major performance is in Baton Rouge." Jasper explained, capturing my attention with his voice once again. "We'll probably stop on the border of Mississippi before then and you'll have a chance to rehearse. Where is she staying?" His question was aimed at Emmett.

"Right now in Edward's bed." He chuckled. "She'll probably bunk with Bella. We haven't gotten that far yet."

"Well my bed is unused." The blonde stated. "Why don't you stay in here, Alice?"

I looked at him with wide eyes and curled my tail around my thigh.

_He wants me to stay in his room? With him? _

_Alone?_

"Good idea. Let's just lump every girl with two legs in your room and let you have a dinner party." Emmett howled with laughter and even Jasper chuckled, but I didn't get why it was so funny.

"I couldn't take your bed." I whispered quietly, shuffling my feet.

"Didn't you hear me? I said it was unused. I don't need to sleep, Alice. The bed is only there for comfort on this rickety train. Since you're so new, it would make sense for you to sleep here, in your own room." Jasper stared at me with his ruby eyes and for the first time since I saw him, I wondered what about him was so unique. With skin so pale, and eyes so red, I couldn't help but to question what made him different.

_A vampire? _

I shook the thought from my head, smiling half-heartedly when I heard Emmett and Jasper continue to joke about things I didn't understand. Vampires didn't exist. They're as fake as the fiction novels I read when I was twelve. There was no way that Jasper Whitlock, this sweet southern gentleman, was a bloodthirsty creature that lurked throughout the night. Because there was no such thing.

_Right?_

* * *

**There you have it! Alice has finally met the charming Jasper Whitlock... but this is only the beginning. Have any other ideas for familiar faces that Alice may meet on the train? Let me know in the reviews! As always, you guys are my inspiration! Unfortunately I don't have a preview for the next chapter yet... because it hasn't been written! But don't worry, it'll be up soon! Love you guys! -fuchsia light**


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